Jazmyne van Gosliga
38 weeks and we are feeling ready. I’m still working, but had my last client in the salon yesterday and starting to wind down which is really lovely. I’ve had a couple of people ask about what to prepare with planning to give birth at home so here is our list (condensed for what worked for us for Saachi’s home birth).
* Our CordBank kit is ready to go with an area that our midwife can do the collection
* Lots of towels and flannels
* Tarpaulin
* Jug for hot water
* Bucket or container – For placenta
* Rubbish bags
* Laundry basket or access to a washing machine
* Birthing pool if you wish (you can rent)
* Tens Machine if you wish (you can rent)
* Hot/Cold packs
* Ambient lighting
* Speaker for music
* Atomizer with essential oils
* Some written affirmations if you wish
* Herbal teas / Coconut water
* Snacks
* A clamp, tie, muka, or other tools for tying the umbilical cord
* Some warm clothes, wraps, nappies, or other items ready for baby
* Comfortable underwear and clothing for yourself
* Maternity pads or disposable undies or period undies (Pad-cicles are amazing, look them up)
* Nourishing food for after
* Support people sorted for help with Saachi
* Books that I also recommend are: The First Forty Days, The Postnatal Depletion Cure, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth etc.
A home birth takes a little extra planning – But thanks to the team at CordBankNZ they have made that part of the process really easy by providing my midwife with everything needed for the collection.
If you are thinking about doing cord blood banking and your midwife hasn’t done a collection before, or you just want some guidance/advice, get in touch with the team and they will be more than happy to help you. They have been an absolute dream to work with!
Independent groups of scientists investigating telomeres and stem cells have reported what lies behind the immortality of stem cells – what a leading Australian researcher calls “the most unexpected result of my career”.
Telomeres are the protective caps at chromosome ends. In adult cells, telomeres shorten each time a cell divides and this contributes to ageing and cancer. Pluripotent stem cells, however, are specialised cells that exist in the earliest days of development. These pluripotent cells do not age and have the ability to turn into any type of adult cell.
The surprise finding, published today in Nature, shows that telomeres in pluripotent stem cells are protected very differently than telomeres in adult tissues.
This has major implications for research on ageing, human development, regenerative medicine, and cancer. Previously, researchers expected fundamental mechanisms that protected DNA would be the same in all tissues. This now appears to be incorrect.
Associate Professor Tony Cesare highlighted that the discovery was important for understanding stem cells, which are increasingly being used to develop treatments (referred to as regenerative medicine) for many diseases.
“We now realise that the rules for creating telomere loops are entirely different in pluripotent stem cells, suggesting other cellular rules might also be different.
This is tremendously exciting for molecular biology and opens up a whole new way of thinking about immortality in stem cells, and invites new research into cancer, aging, embryonic and adult development, and regenerative medicine.”
Read more here.
A U.S mother believes her son is alive today because of a world first umbilical stem cell transplant.
Little Bennett Harbison was diagnosed before he was born in 2018 with hypo plastic left heart syndrome – a condition his mother Jennifer had never heard of.
It means the left side of Bennett’s heart did not develop and he was facing multiple surgeries through his life before needing a heart transplant.
But Dr Harold Burkhartt and his team from OU Children’s Hospital gathered some of Bennett’s umbilical blood at his birth, processed it and froze it until the stem cells were injected into the little boy’s heart when he was a few months old.
Doctors hoped this would mean his heart would grow more cells and become stronger, which is exactly what happened.
You can see Bennett’s remarkable story here and read more about his case.
Here’s a warning for the digital age – children learn more and remember better when writing by hand.
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology has found the brains of children more active when writing compared with typing.
It’s been studied a few times and repeatedly found that handwriting gives the brains more “hooks” to hang memories.
The same is true for young adults.
Read more
The answer is indefinitely. Cord blood stem cells don’t have an expiry date and the chance of needing to use them increases with age.
According to Frances Verter, the founder of the international independent site – Parents Guide to Cord Blood Banking it doesn’t make sense to invest in the up-front collection and processing fees and then throw out the investment.
“That would be like buying life insurance and then cancelling it because you have not died yet”
The science of cryobiology has demonstrated that cells which are cryogenically preserved remain viable for decades. Cord blood stem cells remain viable after being frozen 23+ years .
References:
Broxmeyer, H.E. Cell Stem Cell 2010; 6(1):21-24
Mazur, P. Science 1970; 168(3934):939-949
Nietfeld, J.J. et al. BBMT 2008; 14:316-322
To look at five-year-old Lucas Gutman you wouldn’t know he is living with a congenital heart defect.
His mum Jennifer says he is every bit as active as a typical kid – but the Ohio boy was born with HLHS – hypoplastic left heart syndrome – and became just the second such patient to undergo stem cell injections for the condition.
He was part of a clinical research trial at the Mayo clinic where regenerative therapies for the HLSH are being investigated.
The results are hugely promising and Jennifer says Lucas’ cardiologist wishes she could prescribe stem cells to all her HLHS patients.
Emma was born in Ukraine in 2015 but before her birth her parents were told she had spina bifida.
Spina bifida is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebrae in the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development of pregnancy.
Thanks to one neurosurgeon, Pavel Plavkiy, Emma’s cord blood was collected when she came into the world and very soon after she underwent surgery on her spine which used the cord blood.
Five years on, the only symptoms she suffers is some leg weakness. Her parents credit the use of the cord blood in the surgery for Emma’s progress. You can read her full story here.
This is a cord blood story that is both heart-wrenching and inspirational.
When Frances Everall’s family banked her cord blood with CordBank in 2002, they never dreamed it would be needed so soon and so dramatically.
But at four years old their daughter was diagnosed with a Stage Four Neuroblastoma (a deadly cancer) at Starship in Auckland. One of the options her family was given was to take her home to die. But armed with Frances’ own cord blood they fought back – and won.
A simple infusion of her own cord blood rebuilt her immune system after the rigorous cancer treatment and restored her to health. Today Frances is happy and energetic – with her cancer in full remission.
Frances Verter gave up a career at NASA to dedicate her life to telling expectant parents about the importance of cord blood banking.
When her daughter Shai was born, Frances did not know cord blood banking was an option and had no idea of how life-changing these stem cells could have been. Tragically Shai was diagnosed with cancer as a toddler and died the day she was due to start school.
“I didn’t know saving her cord blood stem cells was an option when Shai was born, and I know they would have saved her.” said Frances.
“Too many expectant parents are still not aware of the benefits of saving cord blood for the future. When you’re having a baby it’s so easy to focus on what colour to paint the baby’s room and which pram to buy rather than stopping to think about the benefits of saving your child’s cord blood stem cells for the future.”
“My deepest wish is that expectant parents will come to understand how the millions of unique cord blood stem cells in your child’s cord blood could save your child’s life if you’ve banked them at birth”.